


From Another World

by AMidnightDreary, Rabentochter



Series: Frostiron Advent Calendar 2019 [12]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Family Issues, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Implied Sexual Content, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), M/M, Portals, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21767224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: “Anyway,” Tony says, putting on a grin. “Do you want to get away for a bit now or not?”The alien’s response consists of an equally mischievous grin, and Tony knows that he has won his bet.
Relationships: Loki & James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Frostiron Advent Calendar 2019 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558924
Comments: 35
Kudos: 376





	From Another World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ehtar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ehtar/gifts).



> Happy December 12th!! We hope you like it, Ehtar! 💕

There is an alien in Tony’s trap. 

Tony didn’t expect an alien to be in his trap. Actually, he didn’t expect there to be anything in his trap, because he wasn’t entirely sure if his trap would actually work. But apparently it works perfectly, and now Tony is kind of stunned. He _wanted_ to catch a (or _this,_ really) alien, but - he didn’t think he’d actually manage.

“Hello there,” Tony says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. How do you greet someone who is dangling a few feet above the ground in a net you set up to catch him?

The alien seems entirely unimpressed. He - Tony _guesses_ it’s a he - raises an eyebrow and looks down at Tony, holding onto the net with blue fingers. “Hello.”

Wait.

“Wait, you can - you speak -”

“I do,” the alien says. “Now if you would be so kind to let me down, I’d be very thankful.”

Tony stares up at him for a moment. “No,” he says then. “No, I don’t think so.”

The alien narrows his red eyes. “I beg your pardon?”

“Okay, look, I - sure, I’ll let you out. But first you need to come to Earth with me.”

“To Earth,” the alien echoes.

“Yes. It’s - uh, not for anything _dangerous_ , I promise, it’s just - I kind of stumbled through a portal some time ago and I told my friend, but he didn’t believe me, so I kind of stumbled through the portal again and now I need proof you guys exist, so if you’d just come with me and say hi to him, that would be great.”

“ _That_ is the reason you have been following me for weeks?”

“Yeah, I - wait, you _know?_ ”

The alien stares at him for a long moment. "Let me down," he says then. He speaks very slowly, as if he thinks that Tony won't understand him otherwise.

“ _No,”_ Tony says. “Not before you agree.”

To be honest, he's kind of disappointed. He tried to be so stealthy - he saw this guy in the forest many times, and he could have _bet_ that he hadn't spotted him. Now Tony isn't sure who has been following who anymore.

“Fine,” the alien says. “If you insist.”

A second later, he is gone.

Tony curses, more in surprise than in anger, and stares up at the now empty net. This is _so_ not going according to plan. Maybe he should just leave this damned planet and give Rhodey the damned twenty bucks. This world is too fucking cold, anyway.

“Where is that portal you spoke of?”

Tony only _nearly_ has a heart attack. He spins around to find the alien standing directly behind him. So far, Tony has only seen him from afar, and now he finds that the alien is… smaller than Tony thought. When he first set foot on this planet, he ended up in a village and was almost killed by those blue aliens that looked like freaking _giants,_ and here was this guy, who was only a head or two taller than Tony. He looks about Tony’s age, so maybe he just isn’t fully grown yet. If so, hell, Tony can relate to that. He still hopes for a last minute growth-spurt himself.

“Are you still in there?”

Tony blinks and concentrates on the alien in front of him again. “Huh?”

The alien looks exasperated. “You’re a human.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well, I’ve heard that humans are _stupid,_ but you really are an exceptional example. Where did you get the trap?”

“I didn’t _get_ it anywhere, I _built_ it,” Tony says. “Also, what the fuck. Could you really have gotten out of there _the whole time?_ ”

The alien gives him a rather skeptical look and then goes to inspect Tony’s trap. He pulls a small dagger out of - wait a second, Tony didn’t see that correctly, did he? - _thin air,_ and then he throws it. After the net has fallen to the ground, the alien crouches to pick it up and look at it. His dagger comes flying back to him and he effortlessly catches it without even looking, and meanwhile Tony feels like he’s stuck in some kind of sci-fi movie in which the ordinary humans usually end up dead.

“Are you a hunter?” the alien asks.

“No,” Tony says. “I’m an engineer.” As good as one, anyway. He isn’t actually finished at the MIT yet, but it’s not like he needs a degree to be a genius. “What about you?”

“Oh,” the alien says, standing up again. Tony’s net has mysteriously disappeared. “I’m the crown prince of this realm.”

Maybe it’s more of a fantasy movie? Anyway, Tony’s starting to feel a bit like he’s dreaming.

“The crown prince,” he repeats. “Yes, right. Okay.” He frowns. “You don’t - uh. You don’t like it.”

The alien blinks. “Pardon?”

“You don’t - I mean, you spend the better part of your time here, in the forest, so either crown princes here have nothing to do or you simply - don’t do it. And you look kind of annoyed all the time. Which is - I mean.” Tony huffs a laugh. “Same.”

Suddenly, the alien looks very fascinated. He comes closer to Tony, studying him intently. “Are you a prince, too?”

“Ah, no. Not really. My family’s famous, though, and rich, so it’s… similar. Annoying, right?”

Why is he talking about his family problems to a blue alien again? 

“ _Anyway,”_ Tony says, putting on a grin. “Do you want to get away for a bit now or not?”

Tony isn’t sure whether it surprises him or not, but the alien’s response consists of an equally mischievous grin, and Tony knows that he has won his bet.

They make their way back to the portal. They need quite some time, because Tony is wrapped in thick clothes from head to toe (it really _is_ fucking cold here) and also the knee-high snow makes it kind of hard to walk. The alien is surprisingly patient, and stops calling Tony stupid after about fifteen minutes. Tony learns that the alien is not an alien but a _Jotunn,_ though he thinks that a Jotunn is technically still an alien, but well. Details, details. He also learns that this planet is called Jötunheimr (no, Tony can not pronounce that) and that Loki is a mage and shapeshifter, which is the most amazing thing Tony has ever seen.

They climb out of the portal and Loki’s (now green) eyes go wide as he takes in their surroundings. It’s just the MIT campus, nothing special as far as Tony is concerned, but he also guesses that it’s not _bad_ , either. He still wants to take Loki somewhere more impressive, but sadly his options are limited at the moment. Howard cut off Tony’s money supply once again.

So they go to the room Tony shares with Rhodey, who also only nearly has a heart attack when Loki turns blue and ruby-eyed in front of him, and then Rhodey gives Tony the twenty bucks and they spend them on as many six packs of Dr. Pepper as they can carry and also a bottle of bad supermarket wine because Loki thinks it’s pretty. The cashier doesn’t even demand to see their IDs because he’s distracted by Loki’s oh so charming smile.

The next day, Justin Hammer, the guy who has the lab next to Tony’s, complains because the fire sprinklers in his lab suddenly started sprinkling something that looked and tasted like (you guessed it) Dr Pepper. 

It was Loki’s suggestion.

And that’s the story of how Tony and Rhodey met their best friend, who happens to be quite literally from another world.

Two years later, Tony is fairly sure that he’s in love. He’s also fairly sure that his parents hate him for some reason, but he’s only sure of that because he doesn’t like the alternative, which would be that his parents simply don’t care. But that doesn’t matter, because Rhodey’s parents and siblings are at their graduation and they are proud enough for the both of them, and Loki is there, too. And it’s enough.

Later, Tony is very drunk and also very sad, even though he’d never admit to being sad in his life, and Loki finds him, because of course he does. They spend the rest of the night in Tony’s too small bed, watching awful movies Loki doesn’t quite understand, and Loki never mentions that he saw Tony crying.

They find another portal in New York. Rhodey’s off to the army, so it’s just Tony and Loki on most days. They meet in Jötunheimr sometimes, but it’s still fucking cold there, so Loki comes over more often. Actually, Loki always comes over these days, because in _his_ world he’s about to become the king, and while everybody (including himself) knows that he will be very, very good at being king, everybody (especially himself) also knows that his younger brother would be just as good at it. 

It’s easy to forget that Loki _is_ from another world, sometimes. Tony gets reminded of it now and then.

For example, Loki’s lips feel like every other pair of lips Tony has ever kissed, but Loki’s tongue is much colder. His eyes are a little too green (not natural, not _human_ ) when Tony pulls back to look into them. He’s already out of breath and his heart is beating so fast that he thinks it’s about to just jump out of his freaking ears any second.

Loki starts smiling, then grinning, then laughing, and Tony joins in and somehow they end up kissing again, and they also end up losing their clothes in Tony’s not too small bed, and it’s… yes.

 _Yes,_ Tony thinks when he lies next to Loki later. Loki changed back into his blue skin some time after they started kissing, which means that Tony can now trace the lines on Loki’s chest with his fingertips. It means that Loki’s eyes glow in the dark, just a little, and that his nails are a tiny bit too sharp. Loki wraps his arm around Tony, pulls him closer and actually kisses his fucking temple, and Tony thinks, again: _Yes. This is it._

Loki becomes king, and Tony’s parents die. The King of Jötunheimr finds the heir of Stark Industries in Howard’s old study, once again drunk and very sad, and he stays with Tony the whole night.

“I don’t know what to do,” Tony says at some point during that night. They’re sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, and Tony’s still cradling a bottle between his knees. “I just - I don’t know what to do.”

“Me neither,” Loki says. He takes the bottle and sets it aside, then moves a little closer to Tony. “They don't want me to go into the forest anymore. Apparently it's not safe for the king.”

Tony snorts. "Mh-hm, right. You could be caught by a human or something."

"I could _let_ a human catch me, rather," Loki corrects, his tone dry.

Tony huffs out a hoarse laugh and rests his head on Loki’s shoulder, closing his eyes. “This sucks.”

“Yes,” Loki agrees quietly. He puts his arm around Tony’s shoulders. “Quite.” Then, “What are we going to do?”

Tony snorts. “Well, I - I’ll run the company, I guess. With Obie. And you -”

“ _No,_ ” Loki interrupts, and Tony notices how thoughtful Loki sounds all of a sudden. “I mean, what are we going to _do?”_

Tony lifts his head again, squinting up at his boyfriend. “What do you mean?”

Loki swallows, brow furrowing. He runs his fingers through Tony’s hair. Finally, he says, “There must be other portals in New York. Dozens of them. Hundreds, maybe -”

“Wait, are you suggesting -”

“I do believe I am,” Loki says. “Yes.”

Tony sits up more straightly. “But. We can’t just - run away.”

Loki keeps looking at him. “We can’t?”

They can’t? 

“You know what,” Tony says after a very long moment. “I think that’s it.”

They tell Rhodey, and Rhodey tells them that they are insane and stupid and that he wants to come with them, and so Rhodey comes with them.

“This is insane,” he says again as they wander aimlessly through the streets of New York. “Batshit crazy.”

“I know, right?” Tony grins and nudges his best friend with his elbow. “We’re going to be _space pirates.”_

Rhodey laughs, probably because everything about this is exactly as ridiculous as _space pirates_ suggests it is. “We don’t have a ship.”

“We can get a ship,” Loki chimes in.

“We can get a ship!” Tony agrees. “Or we can build one. I’ve always wanted to buy a spaceship, I’ve even got the blueprints -”

“Here,” Loki interrupts him. “I think we found one.”

He leads Tony and Loki into a side alley, and yes, there is one. Tony can see it. It looks like the air flimmers and shifts a little, like the surface of water that’s stirred up by light waves. The three of them stand there for a moment, staring at it. 

“Just to make sure,” Rhodey says eventually. “We actually want to do this, right?”

“You don’t have to come with us,” Loki tells him, gently. “Please don’t feel obligated. I know you are worried, but -”

“Shut it, Lo,” Rhodey cuts him off. “Somebody has to take care that you won’t get yourself killed.”

“And somebody has to make sure that _you_ have a bit of fun every once in a while,” Tony says. “Not too much, but - maybe every second Wednesday of the month, huh?”

“Very funny, Tony.”

“We can always come back,” Loki says, and it sounds like a decision. “Whenever we want.”

“Right,” Tony says. He touches the straps of his backpack, hoping that he hasn’t forgotten anything. Which is ridiculous, because they don’t have a single fucking clue what's in store for them and so couldn’t really pack for it. But that’s one of the best things about this, really. He grins. “Are we ready?”

“Sure,” Rhodey says. “Let’s be space pirates.”

Loki smiles, eyes softening so much when he looks at Tony. He takes Tony’s hand and squeezes it, and Rhodey rolls his eyes and smiles like he always does when they act like this in front of him. Then he straightens his back and climbs through the portal.

Tony and Loki follow right after him.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the art on [tumblr](https://rabentochter.tumblr.com/post/189624787939/from-another-world-with-amidnightdreary-for), too!


End file.
